stevens creek trail

This trail is flat, long enough and have water fountains almost every mile. I usually run there from 3 to 10 miles. Could be crowded sometimes.

all the pizza. comfortable seating. reminded us of good old days. tv was loud. pizza was great. what more can i say. I highly recommend this place.

I used to live literally next to this trail entrance and it provides a very enjoyable way to walk, run or bike. The downside is the proximity to CA-85 highway.

I was staying at a hotel that was next to the trail while visiting Ames Research Center. I rented a City Share bike and used the trail to avoid the crowds and traffic. The trail runs east to west and provides easy access to many areas of Mountain View. It is noisy in places where it is near major street or highway but it a nice escape from the civic madness of the bay area. The locals use it to bike, walk, run and walk their dogs and kids. The only significant hills were overpasses for major roads.

The portion of the Stevens Creek Trail that runs through Mountain View is all paved. Easy access from many points along the trail. Crossings over major streets are elevated and protected. Occasionally very loud where it runs up next to a highway.

The trail is long but where it hugs 85 it is so loud. So when the tax payers agreed to the road resurfacing it of course reduced the noise level (not). You will see homeless people on the trail sometimes, but that is all they are homeless and I have had no issues or see them as a threat. Trail is well used at most times. I wish we could get down to the creek bed and hike there, no water so great trail.

This trail is so convenient to travel from my neighborhood to Shoreline Park to see the fireworks on the 4th of July. I like to take my dog for walks here every few days. High school students and high tech workers on their bikes use it as a commuter route at certain times of the day!

It is a very long, long trail. So you can bike, walk any length you want.... Well groomed, safe place...

We live very near a trailhead for this place. OK, so, it's not a wild place, lush and green and quiet. The freeway noise is ever present; the creek is often dry, trail crosses roads and railroad tracks, and the tech world is very lose at hand. Still, it's a genuine respite- bikers, walkers, skaters, with enough variety to keep it interesting. Also well marked, with good signage, and well kept. All in all, this trail is a blessing in an otherwise dreary suburban landscape.

This is an update of my Oct 17 review:The Stevens Creek Trail is a 5 mile paved trail for walkers, runners, toddlers, and bicyclists, running from Heatherstone Way near the Mountain View-Sunnyvale border, below El Camino Real to San Francisco Bay. The trail starts at the corner of Dana and Heatherstone Way in a residential area of Mountain View east of Highway 85. This is the Heatherstone bridge, opened in June 2012, which crosses the six lane Highway 85. This concrete bridge has long on-ramp approaches to the bridge. These ramps have hairpin corners requiring 180 degree turns. There are two lanes, one lane in each direction. Bicyclists must turn 180 degrees in as few as 5 feet, to avoid traffic in the other lane. Cyclists in the inside lane have to come to a near stop to make the turn within the lane against oncoming bicyclists. We go from a near standstill up the next cross traverse ramp. No place to pick up speed before going up the bridge. The paved trail continues on the west side of Highway 85, through grass land under transformer towers. It goes into a lighted tunnel under El Camino Real, a 6 lane road, with a skylight under the median area of the road. There are exit ramps to El Camino. This is the first of several tunnels under roads, and all are very noisy from the vehicle traffic above, with sounds amplified off the concrete walls. The paved trail resurfaces next to the backyard parking lot of the Hotel Zico next to the freeway, the eyesores of Mountain View! The path goes through several narrow underpasses, at least one with a blind curve- but there is a mirror- next to the sound wall of Highway 85. These pathways are only 5 feet wide, where people have to walk in a single column, when meeting opposing traffic. No lighting in these underpasses. Next the paved trail goes over a 350 foot concrete bridge above the 4 lane freeway 237, with fenced in sides, with ramps with hairpin curves.We bike the 1100 foot Central Expressway Bridge, over a light rail route, 4 lanes of Evelyn Ave, 2 railroad tracks, and 4 lanes of Central Expressway. Like the Heatherstone Bridge, this bridge has long approach ramps with hairpin curves. It is a wooden plank bridge arching at its peak over the 2 railroads. Eucalyptus trees and then redwood trees tower next to the path, emerging for another long narrow bridge, this one over Moffett Boulevard, before hitting a straightaway, going through an underpass under highway 101. The Moffett Blvd bridge, opened in 2009, has no hairpin curves, but has a very long ramp leading straight onto the bridge The Stevens Creek is no longer hidden behind a dense foliage of shrubs and trees. The creek has ducks when the water is deeper in the winter. The trees disappear, and the shade recedes, as we are now in open grassland area, leaving the traffic noise of the highways behind us.The path crosses a mobile home park, a tree nursery, and then NASA with the giant blimp hanger being dismantled in the background, and finally the back parking lots of Google. There are side streets, and a resting area in this part of the trail, with bike racks and drinking fountains, but no rest rooms. The parks off the trails have rest rooms, and Shoreline Park at the end of the trail has rest rooms. This part of the paved trail is on a raised levee, with steep inclines on each side. You do not want to have a tumble on your bike here! Purple flowers abound. The area has no shade, but is not hot, as afternoon breezes blow from off of the nearby San Francisco Bay. Everything is slightly downhill, with the trail going straight to the Bay, with grasslands and then swampy areas on each side. Once we reach the Bay the trail curves to the left to the north into Shoreline Park, and next to a golf course. You can see birds overhead, and a white pelican standing on the mudflats. Very smelly on the Bay itself, as it like a slough. We reach Shoreline Park with the twin towers of the Shoreline Amphitheater, and then Shoreline Lake. The Bay trail takes over and wraps around Shoreline Lake and through the former Mountain View dump, onto a dirt trail into the Palo Alto marshlands. The Stevens Creek trail in Cupertino goes 1 mile of residential area near DeAnza Park near highway 85, and crosses over the ten lane hwy 280, and runs into Mary Ave in Sunnyvale. This will join the Mountain View trail in the distant future.The Stevens Creek trail gets 3 stars, as it isn't very scenic. 4 star bike/pedestrian trails: CA Orange County coastal trail, and the Kauai East Coast Path. 5 star bike/pedestrian trails: Wailea beach trail in south Maui and the Grand Canyon South Rim Trail.Other South Bay bike trails: Vasona Park bike trail in Los Gatos, Coyote Point bike trail in San Mateo, and the Foster City bike trail.

Great for a group or solo hike/walk. This can go on for what seems like a lifetime but it's worth it. I like doing walks to Shoreline and ending the day looking at the lake. If you have a dog it's great because you have the dog park by Google's CL buildings.

While I am definitely a road user in both my vehicles (Doublevision and motor car), these segregated bike routes are nice because of the lack of motor vehicles. However, they are mixed use trails, and it can get a bit hazardous because joggers, walkers, and a multitude of other bicycle operators seek these alternative routes as well. It was not as crowded as the Shoreline Trail in Chicago or the beach trail in LA (such congested trails are definitely hazardous) but then I was either pedaling solo during early am darkness or with family during a non-workday. When trail users co-operate, pedaling is a pleasure, especially when I don't have the added concern of a massive (motor)vehicle "sharing" the lane with me!

Very peaceful, very green, perfect for running and walking. It can take you from E.ElCamino towards Castro (actually it runs parallel to it but in the middle of it, you are closer to downtown Mountain view area)

I regularly run Stevens Creek Trail as it winds south from Mountain View to the bay. There are hills, flat areas, and windy areas to simulate varied running conditions during a race. There are drinking fountains and places to rest along the route and you can easily run a 1/2 marathon round trip on this route.

This is an ongoing project for the area. The Stevens Creek/Hetch-Hetchy trail makes for great jogging, walks, and bike riding. Warning: between 5:00 & 6:00 pm Google employees and other tech in this area use it as their own personal bike freeway. Riding at dangerous and unacceptable speeds for a public path. I have seen all sorts of near misses between moms/with strollers vs. bike commuter and a couple crashes between leasure bikers and bike commuters. Warning:If you are visiting from the UK and are use to walking on the left, Be Very Alert. It is beautiful to walk out to the Baylands. Go at non commute hours. I ride this path all the time and highly recommend it. In all these tech parks, there is some beauty. You will even see ducks in the "creek" and other small wildlife. Do not walk the trail after dark. nuf said.